Letter: Questioning religious text

Colin Browder's recent letter has left me in a pickle. I agree with his support of the First Amendment, but I do not agree with his understanding of Old Testament law or the Torah.

Let's start with the Torah. The Ten Commandments were given to a specific covenant community called Israel as part of the agreement binding them to Yahweh, the Lord. In Exodus 19, the people three times agreed to enter the covenant with Yahweh, who had led them out of Egypt. Accepting that law bound them to the one who gave it.

But law became grace, because even before Moses came down the mountain with the law, Israel rebelled, made an idol and worshiped. By rights, God could have burned them up. By grace, He did not.

The New Testament looks at the law quite differently. Paul repeatedly states that man's relation to God comes from his individual act of faith, not obedience to the law he cannot keep.

Faith is an individual decision. For Jesus and the New Testament authors, one must make up his or her own mind. The family, the church, the state cannot do it. And the First Amendment leaves us free to accept Christ or not. Or to choose any other or no faith. And that is how it should be.

Compare to the Islamic governments that want to compel all citizens to convert to their faith and follow their law. Dissent results in conflict, often prison and even death. Even our early colonies would imprison those of a different Christian denomination.

For Mother's Day, though, I will point to your improper interpretation of honoring your parents. To honor is not to cringe in subjection. Coupled with the promise of long life, it probably points to taking care of them in old age.

Perry Lassiter

Ruston

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Email this article

Letter: Questioning religious text

Colin Browder's recent letter has left me in a pickle. I agree with his support of the First Amendment, but I do not agree with his understanding of Old Testament law or the Torah.